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Want to air race? All you need is a propeller and a parachute wing

This article was taken from the May 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.

Want to air race? You don't need a plane, a licence, insurance (though we'd recommend that one), or even any experience - just a propeller and a parachute wing.

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Paramotor racers fly at speeds of 70kph, slaloming around 12-metre-high inflatable pylons. "It has its dangers," admits Dean Eldridge, who won the World Fly Games in Quebec last September and flies for Team Parajet. "The object is to go as fast as possible, but for the pilot's body to remain as flat as possible in proximity to the ground," Eldridge says. "There are broken bones, but that's to be expected. It's similar to a motocross accident, like when a rider comes off."

There are four types of event: speed race, a pure time trial; bonus race, where competitors must pick up objects such as medicine balls from the ground; free race, where pilots have to complete a certain task within a certain time; and special sky races, which mash up the three. Eldridge, 47, recommends getting insurance and then "finding a friendly farmer," before you try taking off.

Need another excuse to embrace the danger? Think on this: "It's like motorcycling in the sky."

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This article was first published in the May 2013 issue of WIRED magazine